Heaven is On the Way
by Darkling Blue
Summary: "You in the dark, you in the pain, you on the run.... living a hell, living your ghost, living your end..." ***FINISHED***
1. Living Your Ghost

"Come on, hurry please!" Zel said impatiently.  
  
"I'm eating, wait a minute!" Lina said, and took a gulp of her drink. "You're always in such a rush Zelgadis. You should learn to enjoy the scenery, take life as it comes at you!" She popped the last morsel of food in her mouth and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her full stomach contentidly. "Ahh..."  
  
"Lina! Please! With the constant stops, and eating, we're never going to find my cure! I don't like sounding so selfish, but this is the reason we are travelling, is it not? I get the feeling I would have better luck on my own!" Zelgadis sat down at the chair and looked at Lina.  
  
"Geez, Zelgadis! Your cure isn't going anywhere! We are travelling for that, but we are also travelling for the joy of travelling! So much to see, so much food to eat..."  
  
"I can see we won't be agreeing any time soon. I'm not in the mood for an argument. I guess we can stay another night here. But... can we please talk about it?"  
  
"Sure, Zelgadis. Right after we see the Summer Solstice Fair!" Lina grinned, and got up. Gourry and Amelia followed suit.  
  
Zelgadis sighed. "Go on ahead, I'll meet you guys back at the inn later."  
  
Can't they see.... the change in me...?  
  
  
. . .  
  
  
"Gee, Mr. Zelgadis is sure acting weird, guys!" Amelia said.  
  
"Aw, Zel's okay, he just needs some time alone, I think." Lina paused to look at a gem at a booth where they were walking by.  
  
"Yes, but I feel kinda bad about making him wait when he wants to find his cure so much. Personally, I don't know why he wants that cure so much, I think he looks so kawaii like that!" Amelia blushed a bit.  
  
"Yes, I know Amelia, but I think it's something that Zel can't live with. He wants to be human, and I think we should help him. But he doesn't need to be so rushed about it! I mean, we only get one chance to visit Parachelie during the summer solstice! It's so beautiful!"  
  
"Hey, Lina!" Lina turned to face Gourry's voice.  
  
"Yes Gourry?" Lina said.  
  
"Come over here, quick!!" He shouted. Lina looked quickly, and spotted his blonde hair in a crowd of people. His voice sounded frantic, and she rushed over, squeezing through the crowd and elbowing people out of her way.  
  
"Gourry!" She called, finally reaching him.  
  
He pointed. She turned, and her eyes opened with shock. "Zelgadis!" She cried. "Zelgadis what are you doing!!!"  
  
Zelgadis's face was twisted with fury. He held his sword at the throat of a man. Two others lay on the ground, already dead. He looked up when he heard Lina's voice calling her name. His eyes glowed red with hatred, and no recognition crossed his face. Lina stopped moving towards him in shock. This... this had happened before.... When they were fighting Rezo. Rezo had simply told Zelgadis to kill them, and he had obeyed, a loyal puppet for his crazed master. But... but Rezo was dead.... So what was doing this to Zelgadis?  
  
His eyes narrowed at her, and a growl escaped his lips like that of a feral animal. He jerked his sword from the mans neck, leaving a slash, but not fatal. The man cried out and crawled away from him. Zelgadis moved forward, crouched in a fighting position, towards Lina.  
  
"Zelgadis! Wake up! It's me, Zelgadis, Lina!" Lina waved her arms around and yelled at him. The crowd, scared of the crazed monster, had all but fled, and there was only a few people left in the square: Lina, Gourry, Amelia, and what was supposed to be Zelgadis.  
  
He crept forward more and more, smiling evily, and showing fangs that gleamed sharp, that Lina didn't know he had. His eyes still shone with red, and his sword dripped blood on the ground.  
  
"Zelgadis!" She shrieked. "Snap out of it!!!" Not wanting to hurt Zelgadis, but knowing that it worked last time this had happened, she cast a flare arrow, and sent it at his legs, hoping to knock him down, just as he leapt forward. The shot, intended to hit only his legs, hit him full in the chest as he hurtled through the air. As it connected, his head snapped back and he fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.  
  
"Zelgadis!" Lina cried, and rushed forward. She turned him over so he was lying on hiis back, and checked his pulse. Nothing. But, a flare arrow couldn't kill him..! "Breathe dammit!" She cried, and started to pump his chest as hard as she could, palms and fingers bruising on his hard, rocky skin. She stopped, and opened his mouth with her hands, and placing her lips over his and breathing life into him. She resumed pumping his chest, but by now, Gourry and Amelia had come over to help. As Gourry pumped his chest, Lina checked his pulse and gave him oxygen, and Amelia started to cast a healing spell. Suddenly, he coughed and jerked, his eyes opening. They were back to the normal colour, but their was no memory of what had happened in them. Zelgadis didn't realize what was happening at first, and pushed himself away as fast as he could, gasping for breath.  
  
"Zelgadis, thank the gods!" Lina cried, breathing a sigh of relief. "You're alive!"  
  
"Wha-... what happened-...?" He asked, sitting up. This seemed to be too much for him and his hands went to his head as blackness threatened his vision. He shook his head and stood up slowly, trying to ignore the pain that felt like his head was about to explode as his heart beat wildly.  
  
"You... you went crazy...." Amelia said, eyes wide. She pointed speechlessly at the two bodies of the men he had slain.  
  
Zelgadis's eyes widened. "N..no..." He stuttered. Looking down at the sword laying in the dust next to him, covered in blood, he realized the truth. That was his sword.... those men.... "NO!" He cried, as an intense pain flared up behind his eyes, filling his vision with red. He fell to the ground once more, clutching his head and writhing in pain.  
  
"ZELGADIS!" The two girls cried, rushing to him.  
  
Whats.... What's happening....? What's happening to me?!? This was his last thought before the world eclipsed into beautiful oblivion.  
  
  
. . . 


	2. The Place That I Belong

Slowly, Zelgadis was aware of his surroundings. there was a faint, clying smell of lavender in the air, and he could hear a clock ticking somewhere. He opened his eyes slowly, then shaded them from the bright light. The sun shone in a window, causing a poll of light directly on his bed.  
  
Where am I...? He thought groggily. All I remember is going to the solstice festival and .... blood....  
  
Zelgadis sat up in bed, looking around franticly. The room he was in contained his bed- white sheets covered his body- a bedstand to his right, with a bouquet or lavender flowers on it, and white walls. A... hospital...?  
  
The door opened, and a nurse walked in the room. "Oh, I'm glad you're awake, Mr.Zelgadis!"  
  
"Where-"  
  
"This is O'Grady Hospital, in Valoon. Your friends will be coming to visit you soon. You have been unconcious for over 4 days now, Mr.Zelgadis!"  
  
"4 days...?" He asked. "Valoon?"  
  
"Yes. Now, please, get back into bed. I'll inform your friends that your awake." The nurse left the room. Zelgadis wondered at this hospital. They were really new, only fairly big cities had them. They were a place were the village doctor's saw their patients, and held them if they didn't have the homes to be properly taken care of in.  
  
Zelgadis propper his pillow up against the back of the bed, so that he could see the room while still lying down. His body was so tired, even talking had made him exhasted. He wondered what had really happened to him, why he had done that ... that- terrible terrible thing... He squeezed his eyes shut.  
  
"Zelgadis...?" A voice asked tentativly. He looked up. Lina's head was poked into the room, looking at him conceredly.  
  
"Lina! I'm so glad to see you!" He said. "Um, may I ask what's going on?"  
  
"You... you passed out. After the..- the incedent, you just went unconcious, and it's been 4 days since then. We transported you here, where they had a hospital. Gods, Zelgadis, I was so scared! I didn't know what was wrong with you!" Lina had come in the room, and sat down at the edge of his bed. Now she was grasping his hand, his fingernails digging into his rocky skin.  
  
"I - I'm sorry, Lina.... I don't know what happened! It scares me too!" He put his other hand over hers. "It... it makes me feel so powerless...."  
  
"I know...." Lina smiled weakly at him. "But," she said, brightening. "Now that your better, we'll stay here for a couple more days, and then we can keep travelling! That is, if you feel up to it..."  
  
"Lina..." Zelgadis looked down. "Lina, I'm sorry... but I don't think I can travel with you guys any more..."  
  
"But, Zel-!" She said, eyes wide.  
  
"No. Lina, listen to me. I really care about you, and Amelia, and Gourry. Did you see what I did 4 days ago?! That could happen any time! I could really hurt you! I- I killed those men... those innocent men..!"  
  
"But, Zel, it's over now! It only happened once, it's okay!" Lina pleaded with him, holding on to his hand tightly.  
  
"Lina... it's happened before. It was a couple of months back. I almost lost control. It's like a rage, it seizes control of me...! And, this time, it did take control of me. It will happen again, I know it, and it will be worse...!" Lina shook her head in denial. "Listen to me!" Zelgadis grabbed her shoulders and shook her once. Her head fell forward and hair fell over her face. She was still shaking her head. "I have to leave now!"  
  
"Zel..." A tear rolled down her cheek. They would find the cure.... they could find it!  
  
"I..- I have to leave." Zelgadis threw the sheets aside and stated dressing, his clothes on a chair in the corner. "I'm sorry." When he was done, he strapped on his sword, and walked to the window. Throwing it open, he leapt out.  
  
"Zel!" Lina cried, and rushed to the window. Two stories down, he had landed, and was walking away.  
  
"Zel..."  
  
  
. . . 


	3. On a Decline, Breaking the Waves

Heaven is on the Way Prt.3  
  
Sorry it took me so long... I have exams this week and have been busy studying. This really isn't my best work, to tell you the truth I've been having a hard time with it, but I'd like to get the story down on paper (or computer) and then edit the content later.  
  
. . .  
  
Lina looked at the small village. She missed her earlier days, when her and Amelia would fight over where to eat. It had been almost two years since she had last seen Amelia... or any of her companions. Gourry had settled down, surprizingly, with Sylphiel. He hadn't wanted to leave her, in fact, he had offered to blow of Sylphiel and stay with her, but she couldn't let him do that. It wasn't right.  
  
Amelia had gone back to ruling her city, after Prince Phil had passed away from a heart attack, leaving her the throne.  
  
Lina herself had continued travelling, and every town she went in, she made sure to look around for any sign of a tan cloak, or blue, wiry hair. But there was nothing.  
  
She stopped at an inn and booked a single room for herself. After paying, and making sure her things were safley locked up, she went into the town to see if she could get some food. She spotted a small booth selling pastrys, and she bought one and started to eat it. She sat down on a bench and watched some people walking by. Thena conversation going on between an older man an da young man standing off the the side caught her attention.  
  
"I tell you, elder, we need to do something about it! Some people have families!" The younger man looked angry and slightly edgy.  
  
"I realize this, Frebec, but what can I do? There's nobody near strong enough to take care of this monster, and a message for help to the capital will take a few days at least!" The older man, the elder of the village, was slightly calmer, but still looked worried.  
  
'Hmm... maybe if I help them out with their little monster problem, they will reward me!' Lina thought. She stood up, finished her pastry in one bite and licked her fingers off. Then she straightened her cloak and walked over to the two men.  
  
"Aherm. Can I help you young miss?" The elder said.  
  
"Yes, or rather, I can help you. You see, I couldn't help but overhear you speaking of a monster and I was wondering if I could try to defeat it for you. For a small, tiny, itty bitty price of course." Lina grinned winningly.  
  
"Why, you must be mad!" The younger man, Frebec, said. "There's no way a skinny, flat chested little girl could defeat a ravenous, blood thirsty monster like this one!" He leered rudely at her.  
  
"Excuse me," she said, and stomped on his foot. "What if this /skinny, flat chested little girl/ happened to be the Great and Powerful Lina Inverse, sorceress extrordinare?"  
  
"Lina Inverse!" The elder looked her up and down. "Thank goodness!" He called and grabbed hold of her arm. "Please help us, Lina Inverse! There is a terrible monster in the woods outside our village. He keeps coming in and killing our villagers!" He shuddered. "There is no way ordinary weapons can stop him, he is like stone!"  
  
Lina thought, Stone...?' She shook off her weir feeling of deja vu, and turned to the elder. "Well, I'm not ordinary weapon! Tell me where his lair is and I'll defeat him. Of course, I'll need my gold in advance, mind you."  
  
"Yes yes of course!" The elder said happily.  
  
"That will be 100 gold pieces." Lina held out her hand. The elder counted the money quickly into her hand.  
  
"Ahem, I meant 1000." Lina smiled, wondering if he would go with it.  
  
"Of course, of course, anything." He gave her the extra gold.  
  
'Wow... this monster must be bad...' she thought.  
  
* * *  
  
Lina spent the rest of the day at the inn, resting up. She had decided to go after the monster the next morning, when most mosters usually are sleeping. But the elder, and Frebec, would hear of it, they said that she had to go out this very night, so the monster wouldn't attack again. It had already killed eight people, and they didn't wnat that number to go up any higher.  
  
She had reluctantly aggreed, asking a couple hundred more gold for it, and had gone to the inn to sleep so that she would be rested for the evening to come.  
  
When the sun started to set, she collected her sword and made her way to the edge of the village, where the elder said the monster usually came from. The forest was dark and slightly creepy, but there was an almost full moon above her head to light the way. She walked for about five minutes, and started to search in earnest for the monster. A cave, or a nest of some sort maybe... but what she saw when she entered that clearing is what she couldn't have imagined for the world.  
  
There was grass on the ground, and the area was clear of trees for about 20 feet around. There was a large boulder that looked as if it was made of silver, as the moonlight shone down on it. And huddle near the boulder... was Zelgadis.  
  
His cloak and shirt were gone, and his pants were ripped and dirty. His hair was tangled and there were leaves and other various forest things stuck in it. His back was to her, and she could see a scratches on his stone body, made from what, she did not know. His body was heaving, as if he was taking gasping breaths, and she stepped forward, hand outstretched.  
  
'The monster must have gotten him,' she thought, worried.  
  
He stopped moving when he heard her take a step, snapping a small twig. Suddenly, he lruched to a standing position, and twirled to face her, crouched as if ready to leap forward.  
  
She gasped when she saw his face. It was totally vacant of anything but pure animal rage. He snarled at her and lunged forward. She saw his sword was gone, but that didn't stop him and he made to grab her with his hands. She screamed and jumped back, totally unprepared.  
  
"Zelgadis!" She screamed, and threw a flare arrow at him. He shook his head and glanced around, then stalked forward again. "Zelgadis, listen to me! It's me, Lina!" Lina remembered exactly when this had happened before, at the summer solstice in Parachelie. But, it had worn off then, why wasn't it wearing off now? She backed away, then started to run, yelling back at Zelgadis. "Zelgadis, wake up!" She was very frightened. Normally it wouldn't have fazed her she would have just blasted any monster that dare chace her. But it was so disconcerting, seeing Zelgadis again after two years, and seeing him like this. She couldn't barely even cast a spell to harm him, she didn't want to harm him!   
  
She ran harder, seeing him catch up, and then she tripped and fell on a root, twisting her ankle. She sturggled up and ran on, tears streaming down her face as she preasured the injured ankle. But it slowed her down, slowed her down too much, and with a feral growl, Zelgadis lept forward and caught her arm. He rolled her over and began to choke her, sqeezing her throught with his powerful hands. Her eyes pleaded with him, and tears flowed freely. Soon, the world was starting to blacken, and she knew she couldn't go any farther. She struggled to get free, and cast a lighting spell in his face, making him clench his fists to his face. She tried to roll away, but he was sitting on her, knees pressed tightly against her sides so she couldn't get free. He was still clutching his face in pain, the magic in that lighting spell had been strong. She couldn't get free, so she knew she couldn't cast any destructive magic, it was too close range and she would be caught in it. She knew what she had to do. Unpinning her arm, she reached down to her belt and drew the sword out from it.  
  
"Light come forth!" She choked, and the light came powering out of the hilt. A parting gift from Gourry.  
  
'If I can't protect you anymore, at least take this," he had said kindly. She thanked him with all her heart right now, knowing that her normal sword would do nothing but scratch Zelgadis. She swung it forward, and it cut into the stone of his side, just below his ribs. He howled in pain and rolled off of her. Blood soaked his pants and ran down his body, spreading on the forest floor and Lina could hear a dull thud as Zelgadis hit the ground, unconcious.  
  
* * * 


	4. Heaven is on the Way

  
  
* * *  
  
Lina rolled over, and crawled over to Zelgadis's unconcious form lying in the dirt and pine needles of the forest floor. She cast her strongest healing spell on his injury, and it knit together, albeit slowly, and stopped to flow of blood. But, her healing wasn't powerful enough to bring him back to conciousness, and Lina wasn't sure that would be a smart thing to do anyway. She sat up and placed her head in her hands. The blood, Zelgadis's blood, had covered her hands when she healed him, and now it printed her face. Her shoulders were shaking and she cried silently, letting out the grief of what she had to do to Zelgadis, of what he had become, of how she was so helpless against him.  
  
"Mm.." Zelgadis moaned and thrashed about a bit.  
  
"Sshh.." Lina said, placing her hand on his arm. "It's alright..." She closed her eyes and shook her head. Please let it be alright.  
  
Suddenly, his eyes flicked open. "Wha-" He started, eyes taking in the situation. He saw Lina bent over him, face covered in blood. He saw the moon above him, and the cold, ungiving earth beneath him. He felt a searing pain in his side, unlike he had ever felt before.  
  
"Zelgadis!" She cried. His eyes held recognition, wonderment, and all sorts of other emotions that she couldn't sort out. "Your back!"  
  
"Wha... what's going on...?" He asked, trying to sit up. His eyes closed as pain flooded his body. His breath caught in his throat and he sank back down.  
  
"It's alright, Zelgadis, it's alright. You're fine..." Lina was mumbling a bit now, and clutching his fingers tightly, as if he would slip away.  
  
He might slip away...  
  
"I'm so so sorry, Zel.... I'm so sorry..." Lina motioned to his wound, and he looked at it. It was half together, but still shone wet with blood.  
  
For a second, his mind couldn't process it, but then, "What cut me...? My skin...?" His mind raced. Stone skin... what happened here?  
  
"What do you remember, Zelgadis...?" Lina asked. Zel noticed tear streaks down her face. He brought his hand up and stroked her cheek lightly, then coughed as pain flooded him once more, hand falling back.  
  
"I remember... I remember the winter solstice, I remember going to Saiyruun, I thought I could visit Amelia, because I missed everyone, even though it had only been half a year... and there was this... red light... and now this..." Zelgadis tried to remember, but there was a hazy fog floating through his mind, letting him flounder in half asked questions.  
  
"Winter.... half a year...? Zelgadis! It's been _two_ years since we parted. Don't you remember anything...?!" Lina was holding his hand now, holding it up to her face, and tears rolled down her cheeks.  
  
"Two...!" Zelgadis felt dizzy. It can't be! Two years? But, what had happened? Suddenly, a fragment came back to him. He stood in the moonlight, blood on his hands, threw down his cloak and howled at the moon. Like an animal. He froze, the memory too real, to vivid, but it had to be wrong!  
  
"Lina... what's happening to me?" He tried to sit up, to process his thoughts, but he couldn't. And he stared up at Lina, her hair haloed by the moon, and his eyes unfocused, slowly...  
  
"Zel! Zel, please!" Lina shook his hand desperatly, trying to break the spell.  
  
"Lina.... I'm so sorry... I can't... I can't take it..." He closed his eyes and tried to strengthen himself. Everything was going fuzzy.  
  
"Please...!" Lina was crying and shaking him desperatly, all the sorrow at all the time she had missed him freeing suddenly like a pale flood in the moonlight.  
  
"Lina, I can't live like this... This curse.... it's got me, and it's too strong... please Lina.... I can't live like this..." She cried harder, and shook her head in denial.  
  
"Zel, we can fix it! I'll just go and.... please Zelgadis...!" Her hair fell over her shoulders and stuck to her face, on the tears still streaming, and the drying blood.  
  
"Lina... please... please. I need to go...."  
  
Lina tooka gasping breath, and, still clasping Zelgadis's hand, reached over and pciked up the Sword of Light, still glowing on the blood streaked ground. "Zelgadis... I... I love you Zelgadis..."  
  
"I love you Lina... please..."  
  
Lina nodded. She closed her eyes, and willed herself to continue. She only wanted to sink into his arms... but she couldn't. "I love you." She said, and plunged the sword into his chest.  
  
He gasped, and his fingers tightened around her fingers, his jagged fingernails biting into her flesh. She willed them to dig deeper, willed them to tear her apart, willed them to do anything but die. And the blood flowered around him, making a crimson halo around his body, and Lina cried desperatly, and her soul flew with his. And his fingers loosened, and blood trickled from his mouth, and his eyes held peace.  
  
And the girl cried.  
  
  
  
  
  
Whatever you say it's alright  
Whatever you do it's all good  
Whatever you say it's alright  
Silence is not the way  
We need to talk about it   
If heaven is on the way  
If heaven is on the way  
  
  
If heaven is on the way   
If heaven is on the way  
I'm a stranger in this town  
I'm a stranger in this town   
  
* * *  
  
end 


End file.
